![]() In his book of the same name, Steven Johnson explores this phenomenon in growing levels of complexity from slime molds, to ant colonies, to cities, and software. This is one example of how low-level phenomenons create high-level results, a process known as Emergence. Once begun, it takes on a life of its own. Just as a spark can create a forest fire, a small cluster of fans can jumpstart a wave. Similar to these phenomenons it merely takes a small cluster of individual instances to instigate it. It bares similarity to electrical impulses traveling through heart tissue or the propagation of forest fires. Thousands of individual units following this simple rule generate a spectacular result. If the person to your right stands up, sit down. In reality, we are only seeing individual people acting on a simple rule: If the person to your left stands up, stand up. The phenomenon is not confined to any one sport or even any one culture, but occurs around the world in a wide variety of venues. The wave phenomenon that occurs at sports stadiums gives the illusion of movement, a rolling surge of activity that sweeps round and round the bleachers.
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